Relax Spas, owned and run by vivacious and determined Noli Mini, has been steadily evolving and growing, creating employment and delivering an innovative service, since it was just a dream in 2010.

Mini, who has a passion for beauty and skincare and a penchant for business, has developed a unique spa concept in partnership with various hotels in the Western Cape, offering in-room spa services to guests from a base within hotels. “We align our offering with the hotel brand, increasing the range of facilities that the hotel offers and provide high quality branded spa experiences for the guests,” she says.

Mini started in 2010 as a ‘mobile spa therapist’, going to different hotels and offering mobile spa treatments. The concept has evolved and Mini has set up bases, including two Spa Suites, at various hotels and guest houses.  An additional aspect of Relax Spa’s offering is to provide spa treatments at corporate wellness days. She is also introducing her own brand of beauty and skincare products.

Relax Spas has 10 full-time staff and three interns.  The company is in the process of recruiting four full-time spa therapists to accommodate the growing demand for its services. Although currently based in the Western Cape, Mini has her eyes set on a national footprint for Relax Spas in the future.

“This industry has been my love since I was a little girl, inspired by my mother’s interest in skincare and makeup. My first part-time job was in Grade 11 when I worked as a beauty consultant for skincare products and makeup in a department store,” says Mini.

Mini grew up in Madubela Location near King William’s Town in the Eastern Cape before the family – parents, two sisters and a brother – moved to East London, where she matriculated from Clarendon High School for Girls. She then studied at a beauty academy and worked at two spa companies for eight years before branching out on her own. “It’s not been an easy road, but it has been wonderful. I think that once one identifies one’s purpose in life, fulfilling it comes quite naturally.

Mini is also in the process of establishing an academy to train beauty therapists. “A challenge is that we have a lot of therapists asking for work, but they don’t have a high enough standard of training for our services. Our academy will train to those standards, and the students will have access to hands-on practical training at Relax Spas, and the potential to be employed if they make the grade.” The academy will start in 2018 with five students.

Mini is also active in social upliftment, and has partnered with Relate Trust, an organisation that supports different NGOs. She sells their bracelets, handmade by women in a local township, and the proceeds go to the Amy Biehl Foundation, which offers training to unemployed young women in beauty skills, among other initiatives.

Mini joined Tsogo Sun Entrepreneurs at the end of 2016 and has been inspired by the rigorous training and coaching that the programme has provided over the last twelve months. “It has been and is a priceless journey,” she says. “I feel validated that I’m doing something right and that I am building a footprint.  I want to leave a strong legacy for my family, and a legacy of possibilities and opportunities with my brand. I want my industry to remember my presence as ground-breaking.” 

She says she learned that there is no greater sign of confidence than self-acceptance and that she has grown enough to accept her flaws and embrace who she is.  Mini adds that Tsogo Sun Entrepreneurs is helping to fill in some gaps in the development of her business, and very importantly, connecting her to the strength of Tsogo Sun.